SPREADING HOPES AND JOY THROUGH A PRISON CAROL OUTREACH

![IMG-20231225-WA0029.jpg] Seasonal greetings to everyone! It's actually been a while in this space, and I have missed being here. That's why I will be sharing an experience from the season with us today, an experience that has kept me thinking and has also given me some mixed emotions.

About two Sundays ago, after the keresimesi, which is the Christmas Carol concert of the Fathers House Church here in the city of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, a brief announcement was made telling the work force that there was going to be an outreach program at the prisons that needed some volunteers, so I volunteered, and I was glad I did.

The outreach was scheduled for Christmas Eve. It was a Sunday. I got up quite early and got ready for church, and by 7 a.m. I was already in church. My friend, who was in charge, wanted us to have a little decoration for the event, so I set out and got some balloons and fabric for that before service time.

The service was exciting and beautiful; it was a special Thanksgiving service for a successful Christmas concert. The service lasted for about two and a half hours, and once the service was over, preparations were being made for those who were going for the outreach to hit the roads, so we arranged a public address system, carried a keyboard, and set out with the church bus. On our way, we had a brief stopover to carry some hibiscus drinks and sausage roll snacks that were to be distributed to the inmates.

Thereafter, we moved straight to the OBA prison facility here in the city of Abeokuta. The journey lasted for about 45 minutes, and while the journey lasted, we had decided it was going to be a carol service to bring a bit of the season to the prison inmates, so we had some people from the music department of the church on the outreach, and we took the initiative to have some rehearsals while we moved to the location.

We finally arrived at the facility at about 2 p.m. Nigerian time, and we prayed briefly before moving to enter the facility. By the time we got in, the prison security personnel welcomed us and gave each and every one of us a visitor tag for the purpose of identification. After we were given a brief orientation, we weren't supposed to come in with gadgets and electronic devices that were capable of recording.

We were made to wait a little longer because there was a ministry that also came to have a Christmas service for the inmates, and while they were almost done, we quickly went in and setup our public address system. It wasn't possible to have a decoration done because of the timing and because they were already in a service.

While the setup was on, our coordinator quickly met with the fellowship coordinator at the prison, and bible passages were assigned to some of the inmates. Before long, the service started, and there was a brief prayer. Our pastor called for those who had testimonies to share, and quite a number of the inmates were out and shared their testimonies. At the moment, I had mixed feelings of pity, but at the same time, I was happy that they were happy we were doing this outreach.

The testimony that struck me was the testimony of a young man who said this was the seventh Christmas he was witnessing in the confines of the facility away from the outside world, but he was still grateful to God because he said the first few years in the facility, a lot of inmates died mysteriously, but after Christian organizations started coming in to pray with them and share God's love with them, all of that stopped.

Soon we got to the first lesson and then the first song demonstration, which was the popular Christmas carol song Silent Night.After that, there was another bible reading, and then the choir came up and ministered two songs, which were Ding Dong and a Yoruba song, ELU AGOGO (RING THE BELL), which we ministered with both keyboards and drums with me behind the drums, and then I saw how happy the inmates were. They stood up and sand as they danced to the melodious sounds. This made me more emotional.

The sections ended, and because we had just an hour to do the whole service, we had to cut many things, but there was just enough time for one last section, and we had the third and final bible reading, and then there was a brief charge from one of our mummies that came with us.

Once again, the choir came up to render two more songs, Oh Come All the Faithful and Felix Navidad. Both songs were rendered, and we saw the inmates dancing and singing there after the service was brought to an end.
We wanted to bring in the little drinks and snacks we came in with, but the prison controllers didn't let us say that they were going to share the things during the feeding time.

This actually made everyone of us unhappy because we heard some of the inmates complain that each time people brought stuff like that for them, sometimes the stuff didn't get to them as it was shared and distributed amongst some of the security personnel.

I was glad I had the opportunity to experience such a moment of sharing with these people, because it reminded me of the commandment of love in the holy book, the Bible, that we love our neighbors even as ourselves.

Please remember to show love to someone this season. Thank you for stopping by. ✌️ wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration.
🎉🎉